vern1955

Have new TV, Blu-Ray: Which receiver?

My 8-year-old Toshiba Cinema Series TV is on its last leg. I purchased the Samsung LN32A550 (1080 HD) and Samsung BDP1500 Blu-Ray player. I won't be replacing my speakers because they still sound great--Klipsch (2 towers in front, center channel above TV, two in rear) and a Definitive subwoofer. My living room is pretty small, so I get plenty of great sound from these speakers.

I'm looking to replace my Yamaha RX-V596. So far, I've looked at these two receivers at local retail outlets:

1. Yamaha RX-V663, $485 on sale
2. Onkyo TX-SR606, $380 on sale

Any opinions on which one to choose, based on my new TV, Blu-Ray, and current speaker system? Guess I should add that I'm not a gamer (not at this point, any way), but enjoy watching movies and listening to music.

I finally bought an Ipod Nano last week (yes, finally), and would like to listen to that through this system as well.

Of course, I'm open to other suggestions besides the two receivers above.

Thanks for any and all advice/opinions!

Veronica

Ed Moxley

Re: Have new TV, Blu-Ray: Which receiver?

Either one of those will be great for you. It comes down to which you like best. Yamaha or Onkyo.........
A lot of folks here like the Onkyo, because of the features for the price. Onkyo came on strong. Then the Yamaha came in right behind them. Either should do what you need.
Good luck!

David Willow

Re: Have new TV, Blu-Ray: Which receiver?

Check around for closeout deals on the Onkyo 705. You can probably find it for about the same price as the Yamaha.

My Home Theater
Our DVD Collection
Dolby and DTS Plaques (downloads)

Brent Hutto

Re: Have new TV, Blu-Ray: Which receiver?

I hate to sound like a fanboy but I've become an Audessey believer. We had an Onkyo TX-SR505 and the Audessey 2EQ setup and equalization worked wonders in our suboptimal HT room geometry (think square room with the TV screen in a corner). Last weekend we upgraded from a CRT to a 50" plasma and a Blu-Ray player so to take advantage of the HD sound formats we also upgraded the receiver to the 'SR606.

It has not on Audessey 2EQ but also the DynamicEQ feature of which I was a bit leery. Going back to my ancient vinyl budget-audiophile days I've never trusted "loudness contours" or other attempts to monkey with the EQ of a system as the volume changes. And that's just what DynamicEQ is but I'm here to tell you it's now on my must-have feature list.

To my ears, home theater surround sound has always needed to be within 10dB or so of "reference level" (i.e. loud enough to rattle dishes in the next room) to sound its best. With the DynamicEQ the surround effect and, most importantly, voices with dialogue come across exactly the same at 20dB below reference as at reference level or higher. And it does so without seeming fakey or distorted. It just plain works. Let's face it, there's nothing "natural" about a 5.1 surround soundscape anyway. It's all about what sounds good and making the dialogue clearly heard. Our TX-SR606, Polk speakers and Velodyne subwoofer do that as well as any Home Theater or Real Theater I've ever experienced. Highly recommend the latest generation Onkyo stuff.

P.S. If you do get a setup with DynamicEQ you may want to turn that feature off when listening to 5.1/7.1 concerts or other musical content. On some music the effect of DynamicEQ at lowered volumes is to produce a mid-bass hump that's not quite right every time.

Dalthius

Re: Have new TV, Blu-Ray: Which receiver?

I just purchased a 46" Samsung HDTV, and have the SamSung Blu-Ray 1500 on the way. My old receiver just doesn't cut it anymore so it's been traded away, and I just ordered a Onkyo TX-SR606.

The speakers I have are Klipsch, two towers, one center, two rears, with a powered subwoofer. They were picked up back in 2002 and are still in great shape, never had any complaints. Sounds like pretty much the same setup as vern1955. Will the SR606 be able to handle these with no problem? I have a Iphone 3G and would like to be able to listen to that through my receiver if at all possible. Does it require any special hardware? I've heard a lot of complaints about the Ipod doc available.